How to Custom Food Packaging?

Randi Sherman | January 5, 2025 | 6 min read

Table of Contents

Have you ever thought about how food packaging is more than simply a bag, jar, can, or box? Food packaging is so much more. Did you ever walk through the grocery store and notice a food item only because you liked its packaging and it appealed to you? This is what food packaging is: a story about the product and its brand that communicates much more to the customer than most people think. When you create custom food packaging for your product, you aren’t just wrapping and protecting the item; you’re making an experience for your customer that should reflect the values of your brand and values. Let’s explore what it looks like to create custom food packaging and how to best present your product to catch the eyes of your target buyers.

Key Factors to Consider When Customizing Food Packaging

Choosing the right materials. Before we dive into the graphics and literal messaging of your custom packaging, let’s talk about materials. If the materials aren’t compatible with your product, the design, label, and colors are useless. Material options for food packaging could be paper, plastic, glass, metal, or a biodegradable alternative. The material you choose depends mainly on what would best protect your product. However, it’s also important to think about what the material of your packaging communicates. Plastic packaging may communicate that your brand doesn’t value protecting the environment. Ultimately, when choosing materials for your packaging, think about what works best to keep your product safe and is within your budget.
 Design and aesthetics. Once you’ve decided what packaging you’ll use for your food product, it’s time to begin thinking about designs, fonts, graphics, labels, and functionality. This step in the custom food packaging process is more exciting than choosing materials. It’s time to start thinking about the story and message you want to send your customers through the packaging. Think through your brand’s values and who your target buyers are. What would best resonate and connect with them? The details you can use to communicate are endless; get creative with it and find what works for the product and your brand.
 Compliance with regulations. Outside of the design on your packaging that sends a message about your brand, there are elements of the design that are required for regulatory compliance. Food packaging must include accurate ingredient lists, nutritional facts, and any certifications the item has or recyclable labels. You’ll need to keep these elements in mind when putting together the packaging design.

Steps to Custom Food Packaging

Understand your product’s needs. To develop the perfect packaging for your food product, you must understand its needs. What goals is the packaging trying to achieve? Who is the packaging meant to influence? Knowing the needs and goals of your packaging will allow you to prioritize some aspects of your packaging over others. Suppose your target buyer preference is a product packaged in biodegradable materials. In that case, you may want to prioritize more space in the budget for those materials than for more colors or graphics.
 Collaborate with a skilled designer. It’s time to start bringing your packaging vision to life. Find a professional designer who understands your goals and the type of art your design requires. Working with a packaging designer makes the design process easy, knowing that you’ll receive polished results. However, if working with a designer doesn’t fit your budget, there are design tools or templates you can use to create your design.

 Prototyping and testing. It’s time to see a real-life result you can hold and evaluate. Once you’ve chosen your materials and finalized the packaging design, you’ll begin getting prototypes to work out any tweaks that need to be made to the packaging before ordering in bulk.
 Finding a manufacturing partner. A good partner will know how to produce the kind of packaging you’re looking for. They’ll have the right equipment and knowledge to create your product packaging. You should be able to trust your manufacturer to be honest and provide you with the quality you want and the necessary amount. Find a manufacturer that you know will meet your expectations.


Tips for Cost-Effective Custom Food Packaging

Keep it simple. Your design doesn’t need to be the most flashy or colorful to be eye-catching. Creating a simpler design can save you money while still having an impact. Minimal designs are easier and faster to produce, and they’re also trendy for many buyers.
 Order packaging in bulk. When purchasing items wholesale, they are almost always cheaper the more you buy. If you’re able to plan ahead for larger orders of packaging, purchasing them in bulk may be a great choice for saving money. Bulk ordering may not work for everyone, but talk with your supplier and see what they offer and how they’d be willing to work with you.

Choosing a Food Packaging Supplier

Is the supplier reliable? Looking for a supplier may seem intimidating, but take the time to know what you’re looking for in the supplier and who your supplier options are. Look for suppliers known to come through on their commitments and offer the production of the kind of products you’re looking for. Maybe look at suppliers already producing products like yours and ask questions about how to handle food safety and what certifications they have.
 Check samples and reviews. Remember that you are the customer in your relationship with the supplier; don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions. You want to have confidence in your supplier, so find out what they are capable of before deciding to purchase from them. Check samples for quality and how well they hold up; the last thing you need is to place a large order and not be happy with the results.
 Eco-friendly materials. Awareness of protecting the environment is growing, and customers want to see that the brands they love value what they value. The sustainability movement is becoming more popular and prioritized by many food companies. Choosing recyclable and biodegradable materials for your food packaging benefits the planet and connects with the environment, valuing customers.
 Minimalistic designs. A popular trend for any packaging is simpler and minimal designs. Think clean lines and basic fonts with neutral colors. These kinds of designs are becoming more appealing to customers and can save you on production costs.

Conclusion

You may be creating custom food packaging for the first time or refreshing the packaging of an existing product. Either way, custom food packaging is a process that takes time, money, and patience. Many steps and aspects of creating packaging may not have been thought about before entering the process. You want your packaging to speak to each of your customers because you can’t communicate with them individually; your packaging does it for you. Don’t take it lightly. Carefully consider the message you send through the decisions you make and the design you create.
Randi Sherman

AUTHOR

Randi Sherman

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